


Snow on Mars

by Fireteam_Russian_Roulette



Series: Fireteam Russian Roulette [8]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Adult Content, Dark Age, F/F, Gen, Multi, New Guardian, editing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:13:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28769889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fireteam_Russian_Roulette/pseuds/Fireteam_Russian_Roulette
Summary: The Beginning of Fireteam Russian Roulette's Titan, a rambunctious and excitable titan. While she won't share her age, she will certainly tell stories.
Relationships: Elsie/Sparks
Series: Fireteam Russian Roulette [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2091060





	1. A Sandy Grave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Ghost called seeker finds her other half in the sands of mars.

A lone ghost glides over soft ridges of red sand, the wind blowing gently throwing up shimmering specks of crustal as the storm approaches. Seeker looked up with a sigh, she had been on mars for months, she had already searched earth, the moon, Venus and now mars. The scorching planet was not the most comfortable despite being a ghost, she felt the sand grind between her shells protective plates and the common dust and sand storms made searching hard as she was forced to hide in a nearby ancient building. She had once been trapped briefly as sand overtook the entrance, but she was lucky she could push her way out.

This time she had a selection of old apartment buildings to choose from as she skirted a ruined city that was half-buried in the sand. It wasn’t too far from the braytech facility but that wasn’t why she was searching here, places like these were graveyards for hundreds if not thousands or more. While the cause of demise was a mystery, many ghosts found their other halves here and seeker held the hope that she too may be lucky enough to find her own. She had been searching for years, 10 years in fact, although to be specific she had begun her search 3602 days to be precise, not quite ten years.

Seeker eyed the half-buried towers before deciding on taking cover in an apartment building with the name oblako 9 painted on the top of the building in dirty faded paint. The approaching our of dust was approaching fast so she found the closest broken window to duck into and found herself in an apartment immediately, it was smeared with sand that was slowly leaking into the room and it covered every surface leaving a cloud of hazy dust hanging in the room from the wind blowing through. She found a mummified corpse in the small living room but she held no interest for it so continued to the front door that was closed.

She scanned the door and what was on the other side, confirming that there was plenty of space before transmatting to the hallway which was pitch black and she turned on her light with a nervous shiver. She was brave enough but such enclosed and dark places were still quite frightening. Seeker began by taking note of her beginning position and found her way to an old computer system to see if she could find any information she could use as the wind began to howl outside. She found what must have been a service computer at the end of the hall in a darkened employee room or she guessed it was anyway.

While she didn’t have any luck getting the systems to work, she did find some long faded cleaning manuals that detailed the standards of the building, she discovered it was also known as kloud 9. With her lack of success, she sighed as it meant the ghost would have to search manually but at least she had a few hours to kill while the storm passed. It was arduous work to search room after room, most of them proving to be tombs for their occupants. Seeker chose to go up first as she didn’t really want to risk getting buried by sand which was starting to fill the lower levels beneath the sand however she didn’t find anyone of interest. since she was still stuck inside even after a few hours of searching, she settled in a safe corner of the building to shut down and wait out the storm.

It was when she tried to relax that she realised she couldn’t, something was keeping her from resting, she felt as if she wasn’t finished searching and it was the first time she had been properly drawn to keep looking. It was a weird feeling once she realised, and she immediately knew that she wasn’t supposed to go up, the feeling was leading her down into the lower buried parts of the building which gave the little ghost a lot of anxiety. After tossing the idea around her mind though, she knew she had to go and at least look, surely it wouldn’t be that bad.

Somehow, it felt darker and even more oppressive below the sand, the building seemed to creak ominously as each room she searched, the red sand pushed against the glass windows threateningly. The deeper she went, windows had begun to cave under the pressure and flooded the room. It was odd as she reached a particular floor and she suddenly felt a deep pull inside of her and it was as if she was being guided by the light inside her, the possibility or chance of finding her other half had begun to overtake her mind as she searched each room on the floor if she could.

It was when she reached the door marked 104 that her hypothetical heart started going nuts and she found herself nervous. As seeker scanned the door and space on the other side, it was indicated to be pretty clear so she took a nervous sigh before transmating to the other side. She found herself in an apartment that matched the hundred or so other ones she’d searched but this one felt oddly familiar as if she herself had been here before despite knowing full well that she had not been.

She searched the kitchen first, finding a set of keys and a braytech marked keycard with the name zasha v on it, she found it interesting so she picked it up and found it help access codes on it for traveller knows where but she continued finding a pretty neat apartment despite one of the windows being broken and sand beginning to flood the living room. On finding her way to the bedroom, she was flooded by a deep unfamiliar sorrow as she realised that there were two figures buried in rotted bedding, they cuddled each other closely as if they had died together and on a closer look, she found an old weapon in one of their hands and old rotting blood marks underneath both heads, the result of being shot in the head.

There was a sense of loss that was heavy in the room as she somehow knew that these two lovers had chosen to die together and there was another part of her that knew she would have to separate the two as one of them was her guardian. She scanned the figures with her light flickering with anticipation and discovered that the two were both female, one cradled the other and she was the one that belonged to seeker. The smaller figure was simply her lover and she wasn’t sure how she knew beyond their death positions but she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was the case.

The ghost was broken from her thoughts as the building creaked around her and she snapped to attention as she sighed and readied herself, she knew why she was here and there was no point being sad about something long dead. Her light flickered with anxiety as she began to fear the thought of simply having a guardian, would it be as expected or would it be different, would she regret her choice, would her guardian want to be revived, she found herself flying back and forth as she processed her nervous fear before steeling herself, this was her duty.

She moved back to her guardian and felt the warmth well up inside her, summoning her gift to give it to her other half. With a burst of light, the larger skeleton briefly glowed before light seemed to engulf the empty form, filling out the body and repairing the years of damage almost instantly. With a deep gasp, an awoken women opened her eyes before sitting up and coughing on the dust spread by her sudden movement, The body beside her was scattered.

Seeker froze as she wasn’t expecting the figure that woke up, she was stunning, an awoken with pale white skin and bright light danced under her skin brightly. Deep plum hair hung in luxurious curls around her shoulders and face with bright blue almost white glowing eyes. Dark spots were dotted gradually across her face and chin. Seeker had seen many awoken but this one was the most beautiful one she’d ever seen and as she moved to look around her with confusion and fear, she darted out of the bed with a frightened squeak as she noticed the Skeleton beside her. She wore torn and old PJs stained with blood with bare feet. She was tall, about 6’8’ and a bit on the fluffy side and as the woman looked around the dark and ancient tomb, she started to tear up before looking to the single glowing eye that stared at her from the dark.

Seeker suddenly found it hard to speak, all her fears had vanished, there was her guardian but suddenly she didn’t know what to say. The woman backed up breathing heavily as she began to hyperventilate “what the hell...” as her gaze moved to the window, a look of scared horror took over as she realised that was sand pressing against the glass ominously “oh my god... am I buried?” She squeaked weakly “where...” she swallowed hard and tried to control her breathing with a sniffle “calm... calm... freaking out won’t help..” she muttered weakly as if trying to convince herself.

Seeing this, seeker finally found her words “uh... you... uh... I-... “ she trailed off weakly as the woman’s gaze snapped to the floating light with alarm.

“Did you just speak?” She asked quickly.

The ghost backed up with a nod “y-yes... I uh... I mean... I’m...”. After a moment seeker shook her herself and tried to ground her thoughts “I did.. and I’m here to help you...” she finally pushed out.

The woman looked uncertain at the floating light “help?”. Her gaze flicked around the room before returning to the light “what are you?” She asked.

Seeker nodded “uh, right... I’m a ghost... I brought you back to life....” she explained awkwardly “in fact I’m your ghost and-“.

“Ghost?” The woman repeated looking confused “wait, life? Was I dead?!” She asked with shock before looking to the Skeleton.

“Yes” seeker nodded “I uh... I found you, you called-“.

“Found me?” She repeated in shock and brought her hands to her cheeks as she processed the information “what happened to me...” she whispered, “who was that?”.

Seeker went to reply but looked unsure if she should explain “I... I think we should go... this place isn’t safe”. The ghost tried to sound assertive but her voice cracked.

“Not safe?” The woman repeated, clearly struggling with the lack of and overload of information “but... I... where do I go?” She asked weakly.

At the question, seeker paused, she hadn’t considered that far ahead and she realised it was a valid question that she didn’t know how to answer. After a moment she shook her head and focused. “We will figure that out later, first I need to replace your clothes...” she replied.

The woman’s rotted clothes were barely staying on and at the mention, she looked at her body with confusion before looking lost “I don’t have anything else...” she whispered with confusion.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve got you covered” seeker replied as she searched through her inventory, she had a set of basic armours for each class but looking at her guardian, she was confused as to which one she should give her. Looking at the woman, she was freaking out a bit but she had already shown signs of being a level headed person before then. Her light was strong and blunt so after a moment she decided that maybe she was a titan and floated over, after all, she could change the armour later and it would probably help to have a little extra armour in a place like this.

“Stay still for a second, this is going to feel weird” seeker warned as she shyly approached.

The guardian looked confused and nervous, taking a step back as the light approached and closed her eyes with fear as the ghost focused her light, scanning the woman’s body before replacing her rags with light titans armour. The awoken looked confused as the light tickled her body and it suddenly felt heavier as she realised she was now wearing a Knight like metal plates and her body was covered almost from head to toe with leather.

“Uh, so I’m going to disappear but I swear I’m still here, I’m going to lead you out of this place” seeker promised before the light faded with a flash leaving her in darkness

As seeker entered the woman’s armour, she immediately felt the guardian's heartbeat pick up and her breathing become panicked as she could no longer see but it was a moment and seeker turned on the light on her helmet. “It’s ok, I’m here”.

The words made the woman flinch and look around with fear prompting seeker again to speak and try and calm her down “I’m in your armour, it’s ok” she soothed weakly.

“Armour?” The woman repeated, “why would I need armour?” She asked quickly.

“Uh, I mean, you don’t... do, but let’s just focus, we need to get out of here... “ seeker pushed, setting up the suits navigational systems to put up a navigational diamond to follow “follow that” she explained.

The woman seemed to take a deep breath before nodding “this is probably just a wild dream and I’ll wake up anytime... so let’s just go with it... yeah...” she sighed before seemingly willing herself to move carefully through the apartment, her breath quickening on seeing the sands slow invading into the apartment. A diamond appeared above the keys on the bench and the woman picked them up with confusion before going to the door and it was locked. She was quick to try the keys but they wouldn’t work as the lock was all rusted up in its age. “They aren’t working” she urged weakly feeling a bit claustrophobic.

“Shit... uh.., well...” she took a moment to scan the door, it’s age meant it was probably weak enough to bust through. “Get a run-up, you should be able to break it down” seeker suggested.

The woman took a nervous breath and backed up as far as she could before taking off in a sprint to throw her shoulder into the door and it practically exploded off its hinges into the hallway and the woman staggered with surprise “it worked?!” She breathed.

The momentary high was broken however as the sounds of glass frocking echoed through the dark hall and seeker put up the next diamond quickly “run!”.

The woman looked around with shock before taking off, her fear pushing her to run faster than she thought she could as she raced up the pitch-black levels dodging the sand that was beginning to push open doors. She was breathing hard by the time seeker said she could stop and she bent over with tired relief before tearing up, “this is too much” she whimpered.

“Hey, hey, uh... you're doing good, so good, I promise” seeker urged weakly as she scanned to see if the storm had passed, fortunately, it had “we just gotta go a little further” she promised “but I won’t make you bust the door open again” she promised.

The woman took a moment to try and calm herself before straightening up with a weak nod and kept following seekers guidance until they reached where she had entered, this time choosing to transmat then both to the other side, realising she should have done that downstairs.

As the woman entered the red-stained room and saw the surface of Mars for the first time, she was stunned at the ancient ruins of building in the Red Sea of sand and on approaching the window that was still mostly in place, she admired the haunting apocalyptic view for a moment. “This isn’t a dream is it...” she whispered quietly.

“No, it isn’t... but I’ll help you, I promise” seeker replied through her armour “now just smash that glass and you're free and we can find our way home...”.

“Wheres home?” The woman asked as she nodded and pulled her fist back to force it through the glass, smashing it in one blow as the years had weakened it.

The question stumped the ghost, it was another question she hadn’t considered. “I... I don’t know yet.. but we will find it together” she assured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A MOMENT OF MY HEADCANNON:  
> I've always thought that ghosts are born as blank slates, they know how to work and do things but they have to learn things like world rules, manners, names, etc. My favourite belief is that there are a few ways ghosts get their names. The more headstong ghosts name themselves for whatever reason they decide but the more heartfelt ghosts want their guardians to be to give them their names. On a similar vein, maybe a civilian gives them a name that they hold dear and choose to keep when they find their guardian. 
> 
> To me, Ghosts make up the 'missing' half of a guardian and vice versus. My guardians are all very similar since they do value their ghosts in this line of thought while there are guardians out there that don't consider ghosts to be nearly as important, more like tools. 
> 
> Elsie is a good example of some one who deeply values her ghost, she spoils her ghost rotten and cares about her above all. she is the typical over protective parent almost who will buy sparks anything she wants. she will also hold and 'cuddle' her, almost always making she her ghost is protected above all. sparks is a bit of a baby because of this but they are extraordinarily close


	2. New Identities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Ghost and Guardian choose new names and begin their path together.

As the woman entered the red wastes, leaving her tomb behind her, she looked up to the building with a hollow sense of fear as she realised her past was no longer existent and the future was just as uncertain but she steeled herself and looked forward, focusing on her goal, following the diamond in the distance. The voice in her head insisted that it would lead her somewhere safe and she had no choice but to trust the mysterious light who was guiding her.

Now they were out of imminent danger for the time being, the ghost now took closer notice of her new found partner, she spoke risen like all new born guardians but she spoke with a deeper accent that was often seen around the area of earth named old russia, people tended to call it a Russian language despite the history of it only really living on in a few civilians families and those risen raised in the area.

The woman seemed to be focusing on the task at hand so she almost didn’t allow herself to freak out too bad and seeker begun to admire her willingness to trust in this mysterious force that was helping her, it was the woman who finally started a conversation however after some time of trekking through the Martian landscape with heavy breaths. “So what are you...” she huffed “the voice or light or whatever you are, what are you” she asked and she stepped Heavily through silky sand.

“Oh, right.. I’m a ghost...” seeker replied quietly “I told you before but uh, now we are safe... ish, you can ask me things now” she added.

The woman nodded “so what’s a ghost?” She asked, taking up her offer without hesitation.

Seeker was unsure of how to answer, if she could show her the traveller, it would be easier but she didn’t really know how to explain herself but she would try. “Well... I uh, a ghost is a... machine.. I guess? We are made by a bigger machine called the traveller.. and our job is to find our risen” she explained “if that makes sense...”.

The woman looked blank, clearly not understanding but seemed to accept the answer “ok, so what’s a Risen?”.

“Your a risen” seeker replied “a person or being brought back to life woth the travellers light”.

The woman pondered that for a moment to catch her breath. “And light is?” She continued.

Seeker was once again unsure of how to answer. “uh... it’s what powers the ghosts... and risen can use its light to fight things...” she explained awkwardly.

The woman nodded, once more not understanding but accepting the answer “so I’m made to fight things?” She replied simply.

Seeker paused before replying “uh... in the most simple way... yes... but your here to protect those without light” she added.

“Oh...” she relied thoughtfully before looking around at the barren red wastes and city ruins “where are theses people?” She asked.

“Well, they aren’t here... they are on earth” seeker explained “that’s where we have to go...”.

The woman stopped walking to take some breaths before continuing “so why am o here?” She asked breathlessly.

Seeker laughed awkwardly “well... I.... I don’t know... I can only assume you lived here before the collapse...” she replied weakly.

The woman looked confused “the collapse? Wait, so who am I?” She asked as she realised just how little she knew.

Seeker felt even more awkward as she realised she couldn’t answer these questions “I don’t know who you are...” she admitted.

After a moment, the woman nodded “so, let me get this straight, you don’t know me?” She asked.

“No” seeker replied quietly.

“But you found me here, in the middle of no where and brought me of all people back to life? Why?” She asked “shouldn’t you know someone if you do that?”.

Seeker felt herself fall into embarrassment and uncertainty “oh... I mean... I uh... well technically... it’s complicated” she replied sounding flustered.

The woman raised an eyebrow befire continuing to walk “ok, so can you tell me why me at least?”.

Seeker thought about it for a moment “uh... well it was... I had this feeling... like... I knew it was you that I was looking for...” she sighed “it’s hard to explain but you are my risen and I belong to you” she explained.

“Mhmm...” the woman replied woth a nod before sighing “so then what now? I’m a risen I guess, and you’re mine... who are you?” She asked.

The ghost felt shy before scanning the wastes and once she was sure it was safe, she left the awoken armour to appear in front of her and floated backwards “uh.. well the name I gave myself was seeker... cause I was seeking you...” she trailed off with an awkward laugh “I thought it was cool” she mumbled “but I wanted my risen to give me my final name” she admitted shyly. In the light of day, the little light had now turned into a four pointed star with a small glowing eye, she floated with no real reason and as she spoke, the spikes seemed to move.

The awoken stopped to look at her strange contraption called a ghost and tilted her head “so your the light from the place I woke up?” She asked.

The ghost nodded before looking increasingly shy “I uh... I’m not that impressive.. I know, but I can do a lot of things” she promised weakly.

The woman considered the ghost for a moment before nodding “you look kind of cool” she admitted “so you’re saying you want me? Your risen, to name you?” She repeated carefully.

The ghost nodded “uh... yeah.. you got it... I kinda thought it would be nice... you know...” she trailed off with embarrassment “finding your risen is supposed to be special... there’s this bond that they have and stuff....”.

The awoken seemed to consider her for a moment “well... ok... hmm” she looked thoughtful, placing her hands on her hips to catch her breath “you know, how about sparks?” She asked “first time I met you, you were a spark of light, uncreative but i... well I don’t know, but I like it and I guess I’m boring” she shrugged “you can pick something else”.

The ghost lit up at the suggestion “no, I like it!” She enthused eagerly before looking distracted as she reprogrammed her name to sparks “I love it”. The ghost seemed to almost buzz with happiness “I wanted nothing more than for my risen to name me” she admitted with admiration “I hoped it could help us be friends!” She explained before suddenly looking embarrassed “I mean.. uh.. I suppose I look desperate now” she murmured “I was just.. excited...” she trailed off.

The woman starred at the surprisingly expressive ghost with surprise before smiling “you are cute for a machine” she mused playfully “so what, does that mean you get to tell me my name?” She asked with amusement.

The newly named sparks looked surprised before looking even more embarrassed “uh, no... I uh, I thought you would want to name yourself” she admitted.

The woman sighed “hmm, well...” she looked thoughtful for a moment “you know, I think I like elsie, what do you think?” She asked.

“Elsie? I like it” sparks replied happily befire looking unsure “you know you can think about it if you want, you don’t have to decide now” she assured.

Elsie shrugged “I’ve already decided I like it, it’s simple, to the point and kinda pretty” she mused befire continuing to walk “so elsie and sparks on our adventure to hopefully not die again” she chuckled “tell me about yourself, I don’t know anything so I can’t talk about much but you, surely a cute little spark like you has seen a lot” she teased.

Sparks floated after looking shy “oh... uh.. I... well.. I am almost ten years old...” she admitted “3602 days old to be specific and I’ve been looking for you the whole time...”.

This seemed to surprise the young risen as she paused for a second before replying “surely not, a cute little light like yourself, looking for me all that time?”.

Sparks nodded “it’s true, I looked everywhere but I couldn’t find you on earth, I thought I’d find you there, I though about the moon and Venus... I looked a bunch of places but here we are... I was looking for a long time” she assured.

Elsie nodded as she processed the information. She couldn’t remember those locations but it sounded like a lot of work “I guess hard work pays off right?” She mused.

The ghost nodded “I think so, I found you, so that’s something” she floated ahead to turn and face elsie “do you have any questions?” She asked.

Elsie pondered the question befire replying “I have a few, but I guess the most important is how we are getting off this hunk of sand” she chuckled.

“Oh, there’s a little camp a few hours away that will help us home, I’m sure” sparks replied before returning to the titans armour “I’ll lead the way” she assured “just follow me”.

“Yes mam” elsie replied with a smile, she had no idea where to go so she didn’t have a choice but to trust sparks.

Elsie took about an hour longer to get to their goal due to her new born lack of fitness and she had to take some time to rest about half way but finally their goal was in sight. It was like a a mirage in the centre of the scorching Martian desert, a large building rose up in the distance and loomed over elsie as she entered it. It looked to be an aircraft hanger that had been repaired and it was clearly in use as she immediately found a small settlement on the edges of the building with a few ships hanging in the centre of the space.

Elsie stopped walking breathlessly, she was exhausted after the long hot walk and as she looked up, she was greeted by a person who wore similar armour to herself “heya, you look baked” a female voice teased, her head covered by a helmet.

Elsie straightened up with a tired grimace “it was a long walk” she replied with a half joke.

“I’ll bet” the risen nodded “you new?” She asked?.

Elsie nodded a little uncertainly “uh... I’ve been awake for... how many ever hours it too to walk here... but that’s it” she admitted.

The risen clapped eagerly “ah, well let me get you aquatinted” she mused before chuckling “oh, wait up, I got you” she added before stepping over to elsie to pick her up in a smooth motion, giving elsie a fright “you walked far enough for today”.

Elsie was a bit stumped for words for a moment as she blushed “uh... I could have walked...” she muttered with embarrassment.

“Oh I know, but hey, a ladies gotta make a good impression” she teased as she walked over to a larger tent in the corner of the old facility. She ducked through cloth entrance into a very temporary set up. It was quite a large space with what worked out to be a work and living space with a separate bedroom area. There was a fabric back door that led to A makeshift bathroom area and the kitchen seemed to be a small burner in a corner with a pot.

The risen woman set elsie down gently having very little problem carrying her at all and the moment she was set down on a bag seemingly filled with scrap cloth, elsie realised her body refused to move and she sighed as her body ached. Clearly her first day was not going to be pleasant. The risen who set her down went to her little table as she moved to fiddle with her helmet to take it off, setting it aside before looking back to elsie with a smile.

The woman was a tan skinned human with chocolate brown hair that hung in a messy half up half down hair do. It seemed her helmet created quite the frizz as she shook out her hair. She had emerald green eyes which was quite beautiful and her face featured a dark tattoo like mark that was similar to Elsie’s only unique to her.

“So, what’s your name?” The woman asked cheerfully “my name is dante” she added and rested her hands on her hips confidently.

Elsie was struck for a moment as she blushed, very quickly realising her preferences which made for one thing she could add to the short list of things she now knew about herself. “Uh... e-elsie...” she replied awkwardly taking a second to remember it.

“Ooo, elsie? Nice... Russian too” dante observed from her accent “cool, I wonder if you worked at braytech once...” she mused to herself thoughtfully before shaking her head “off topic” she shrugged before stepping over and kneeling beside her “haven’t moved yet either, how long were you walking?” She asked curiously.

The overload of information took a second for elsie to keep up with her but she disregarded the random information that confused her and answered the last question “2-3 hours or something” elsie sighed.

“Ouch, no wonder you haven’t moved... well that’s ok, you don’t have too” she assured “that’s a brutal first walk” she chuckled “can I take your helmet off?” She asked with curiosity.

Elsie took a second to nod “oh, uh, yeah... I don’t know how to take it off myself...” she admitted with an awkward chuckle “you can save me from my armour too” she added jokingly.

Woth a laugh, dante moved forward to fiddle with a part on her neck and there was a hiss as the seal was broken before she pulled off the helmet and she was struck quiet for a moment “traveller help me you are striking to look at” she muttered with a light blush before clearing her throat with a chuckle “I need to find myself more martians...” she muttered to herself as she set the helmet on the floor “so, elsie... huh... and a titan too, I hit the goldmine” she chuckled with a cheeky smile.

“Titan?” Elsie repeated with confusion.

“Right” dante reminded herself “so have you heard the whole risen chat, you were a dead person, space magic, boom, your alive with your ghost?” She motioned with her hands as she casually spoke.

Elsie nodded and shifted stiffly to lay down more comfortably and set her hands on her stomach with a tired sigh “yeah, I think I get that bit” she replied.

“Easy” she mused “so risen are generally split up into three classes and there’s room for movement between but as a general rule, there titans, warlocks and hunters” she held up her hand to point to herself “I am considered a titan and you are wearing titans armour, think of titans as...” she trailed off thoughtfully for a moment “titans are essentiall tanks, they usually wear a lot of armour and are usually a hell of a thing to take down, hard to hit and kill” she chuckled “you don’t want to get into a fist fight with a titan without practice” she mused.

She held up a second finger “warlocks are the nerds, book worms, researchers, they can do some freaky stuff woth their light, they are generally more intelligent than strong but it’s not exclusive of course” she nodded.

She held up a third finger with a nod “and lastly, the hunters are the sneaky ones, generally flashy in nature, they have a thing for capes” she grinned “they insist its to keep the weather off but we all know it’s for show” she jabbed with laugh “for real though, you wanna watch yourself around hunters, they are tricky sorts, very quick and good with a blade generally. Good snipers, even quicker shots usually, they aren’t a joke in a fight, only their looks” she smiled.

Elsie nodded thoughtfully “so Titans, warlocks and hunters? Who decided on the names?” She asked with a chuckle.

Dante shrugged “traveller knows, they were in place before I existed, now, there’s some people who don’t really stick with those rules, and technically there’s nothing stopping you from wearing other armour, not to mention, some titans study, some hunters like fisticuffs and you know, you can do what you like, the names are mostly for civilians or people woth no light” she explained.

Elsie considered this infirmation “so, risen, ghosts and three classes, oh, light? What do you mean by light? Sparks mentioned light too, some sort of power or something?” She asked.

“Right, light, of course, uh, you know what” dante put her hand on her knee to stand and stood back to flick her hands and arms for a moment before punching her palm and there was a crack of lightning as light flashed in her hands. Blue Lightning crackled around her hands and up to her elbows as her hair started to collect static. Her eyes briefly seemed to glow despite being human and she grinned “this is light of the arc variety, civilians call us a few names, I personally like the title of thunder thighs” she grinned “arc titans are called strikers among risen” she mused.

Elsie looked at her woth surprised awe and sat up with a flinch “what the hell is that?!” She asked with enthusiasm before looking unsure “and thunderthighs?” She added eyeing her hands.

Dante laughed and loosened her hands, releasing the energy and shook her hands out “it’s light, there’s an arc, solar and void variety of it and each risen has a natural call to one of them, but you can learn how to use it over time” she explained before looking cheeky “and a knee to the gut has a lot of extra punch if you add a bit of lightning” she mused.

Elsie nodded in realisation and smiled “ok, ok, understood” she replied “so arc is lightning, I’m going on a wild assumption that solar is something to do with fire but void stumps me” she admitted.

“Very perceptive of you my young titan” she mused “void is kind of a darker light, if that makes sense, it’s purple in colour and they say the void does some crazy stuff. if you look too deeply into it, they say it looks back” she chuckled “I wouldnt know but in the way titans use it, we generally use it to protect ourselves and those around us, we lovingly call it a bubble and it’s about as imaginative a nickname as you can get I assure you” she smiled “voids complicated” she admitted.

Elsie looked confused but accepted the answer “So theres lighting, fire and purple, got it” she mused “I’m wearing titans armour so that makes me a titan?” She added with uncertainty.

At that point sparks came out shyly “well... uh, I mean... I thought it suited you best” she admitted “but if you think you’d like something else, I have other stuff” she assured.

Elsie looked thoughtful “well I’m pretty comfy and really too tired to care right now” she admitted “but I’ll keep it in mind” she smiled.

Dante looked at the little ghost curiously “you aren’t that ghost who called herself seeker are you?” She asked.

The ghost nodded and smiled “elsie named me sparks so I was but now it’s different” she explained.

“Hey, I heard rumours about a lone ghost searching the crypts” she chuckled “look at you, you did well” she complimented “well you two can stay with me until you are ready to move on, I can even teach you a few things if you like” she offered.

Elsie looked to the ghost who looked back, both seemingly asking each other’s thoughts. “Well... do we have anywhere else to be?” Elsie asked.

Sparks shook her head “risen kinda just... do and go where they want” she admitted “some training could be nice... “.

After a moment elsie nodded “sounds great then... if it’s not too much trouble?” She spoke.

Dante gave an excited smile “I was kinda hoping so, there are no other female risen here, you don’t even know how boring it is” she rolled her eyes before grinning, her eyes flickering over elsies form “plus I’ve had worse room mates” she mused.

Elsie blushes a little and gave a shy smile “it’s a deal then” she nodded, offering her hand to shake.

Dante took it without hesitation “the men are going to quake in their dirty metal boots” she grinned making the two laugh after a moment.


	3. A Purpose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What are guardians for, why do they exist. it's time for elsie to learn.

With a deal made, a place to stay and even a half planned goal in mind, elsie felt a sense of calm settle as some of the uncertainties she now faced were gone. She went to move befire flinching remembering her very untrained body and it’s aches “so uh... I fear I’m stuck here” elsie bit her lip “this whole walk of mine seems to disagree with me” she chuckled weakly.

Sparks looked apolegetic “Is there something I can do? Ghosts are supposed to be able to heal right?” She asked Dante with shy shame “I’ve never done anything like that” she admitted.

“Oh right, well I wouldn’t know but I do know someone who might” she mused and held out her hand, her own ghost appearing above her palm “this is nonet” she announced proudly.

“Heya” the ghost greeted happily, her shell was similar only it was a muted almost velvety looking black with gold tips. She floated over to sparks welcominglu “it took me forever to learn how to help, buuuut, I can help you” she assured before looking to elsie “mind if I steal sparks for a bit?” She asked innocently.

Elsie shook her head “go ahead, as long as she’s safe, it’s fine, I’ll be here” she joked.

“Great!” Nonet replied befire nudging sparks “follow me, Let’s talk” she enthused before floating over to the table and settling there, sparks following shyly to settle beside her.

“In the meantime, how about we talk plans” Dante mused “how does dinner and drinks sound?” She asked befire pausing “uh, by the way, do you mind sharing my bed tonight? I can get another one tommorow but for tonight we are stuck together” she looked apolegetic.

Elsie nodded with a deep blush and awkward laugh, bringing a hand to the back of her neck shyly “oh, uh, that’s ok” she replied “and uh.. I mean.. dinner and drinks sound nice”. She looked up “but don’t you work tommorow? Or wait... what do you do?” She asked.

Dante waved it off “I’ve worked in worse shape” she assured “I protect this settlement for the most part, help with heavy lifting and security. I help keep supplies up as well, I have a contact in the travelers city that comes by with supplies” she explained and she shifted over to her little kitchen which was made up of a camp stove exclusively with a pot. She searched through a crate nearby to start pulling out paper wrapped supplies and begun preparing dinner “I know dinners a few hours away but, I’ll bet your hungry so I’ll put it on now and we can eat later too if your still peckish” she added.

Now it was mentioned, elsie looked surprised as she suddenly felt very hungry, which made sense since she hadn’t eaten since she woke up and any time before then litterally didn’t exist anymore. She looked at Dante appreciatively “thanks”.

Dante smiled “your welcome but you are my roomie now, or guest... either way, I have a duty to feed you now” she mused.

“How can I pay you back?” Elsie asked “I uh... well I have nothing...” she looked awkward.

Dante shrugged “well, you can do jobs with me while I train you and I have a bit of a nest egg that we can use until your ready to earn your own glimmer” she assured “and it really won’t take long to get you up to speed” she added.

Elsie looked unsure but took her word for it and looked down thoughtfully before checking out her leg plates tenderly “so... all this metal...” she eyed Dante’s armour which was quite obviously much heavier than her own “is it heavy or uncomfortable? Do you choose to wear it?” She asked curiously.

Dante looked up from the stove woth a smile “of course, but it’s more comfortable than you’d expect, the weight is manageable though, it’s weird to begin with, if recommend starting with lighter armour and work up to this but it’s all surprisingly comfortable because it’s spread around your body rather than in one place” she chuckled “I find the weight strangely comfortable, I’d describe it as a big metal hug” she admitted with a chuckle.

Elsie looked a little unsure but nodded, eyeing her armour with curiousity. After a moment Dante raised about eyebrow noticing her gaze and gave a cheeky smile “do you like what you see?” She teased.

Elsie instantly blushed deeply and looked away “oh... uh... no.., I mean... yes? I was just looking at your.., your armour” she swallowed hard but as Dante changed the topic she did start to pay attention to the well built woman and blushed harder.

Dante laughed and returened to cooking “your fine, look away to hearts content, I’m just teasing. I know I look good” she mused “but your cute too” she added “even a little more” she finished with a brief look. Elsie swallowed hard, biting her lip shyly, she wasn’t sure how to respond but she was very red.

Dante put dinner together in about half an hour and shared it between the two of them, offering elsie a bowl of warm soup and a spoon before sitting on the floor beside her with her own meal. Elsie was pleasantly surprised since the soup itself looked almost like lightly flavoured water but while it was a bit weak, the taste was pleasant and it was definitely what she needed as she felt ravenous.

As she set the now empty bowl on the floor beside her, elsie sighed with content “thank you so much...” she spoke, looking appreciative.

Dante nodded “you are very welcome, there’s more where that came from if you want it” she offered.

“Oh no, I’m good for now” elsie smiled, she probably could definitely have eaten more but she didn’t want to be greedy.

“Well tell me if you get peckish then” Dante mused “now, I’ll be right back, my work is finished for the day so I’m going to take my armour off” she chuckled before pausing “oh right, you probably don’t know how to do that so you” she added.

Elsie looked at her armour before realising that Dante was indeed correct again and she nodded with embarrassment “uh, you would be right... not that I have anything to change into” she replied awkwardly.

Dante waved her off “I have things you can wear, I’d never leave a girl bear” she assured “but I’ll be right back” she mused as she ducked into the little bedroom part of the tent. The sounds of belts being so undone and metal clanking as it was shifted and put away sounded quiet before being followed by cloth. Elsie bit her lip and tried to ignore it awkwardly and after a few minutes, Dante returned with some tight shorts and a singlet. Elsie felt her breath pause as she couldn’t help but admire the titans very well toned body and she swallowed hard trying to control her thoughts and Dante moved to sit cross legged in front of her.

“So, de-armouring 101, all the belts that matter are hidden, it looks better that way” she chuckled “I’ll show you where to look but you start with your arms, those are pretty easy” she mused as she leaned over to point out the wide belt that held her shoulder plates on before detailing the order of everything else and helping elsie free herself from her armour completely.

Elsie had trouble keeping her mind clean as Dante would reach over and give her a perfect view down her chest and she was very glad to be finished woth the lesson, feeling very warm by the time they were finished. Elsie was left in leathers and she even took off the leather coat feeling flushed.

“That Martian heat right?” Dante teased playfully “I got the perfect thing” she mused as she stood and moved over to her crate and pulled out a bottle of wine “sorry I don’t have glasses but you don’t mind sharing the bottle do you?” She asked innocently, moving to sit back in front of elsie and opening the bottle, pulling the cork out with her strength and offering it.

Elsie chuckled with a blush, there was a voice telling her it wasn’t a great idea but after a moment of hesitation, she sighed and took the bottle and took a swig before letting out a sigh as she recognised a sweet moscato with a smile “I think that will be fine” she replied offering it back.

Dante took the bottle and followed up woth her own swig and grinned “atta girl, I really like you, a girl after my own heart” she teased.

With the help of wine and a very charismatic titan, the next few hours passed with a lot of laughter and giggles as Dante told elsie about her life since elsie couldn’t offer her own stories yet and after the bottle was finished, the girls simply enjoyed chatting about girl problems since it quickly became clear that Dante dealt with a lot of males but not so many females so she couldn’t winge too often and it was well and truly over due. It was about ten pm when they realised the time and by then, Dante had pulled out another bottle to continue so they were both pretty drunk by then.

“Oh shit... Hah, we should be in bed” Dante realised with a drunken giggle.

Elsie had lounged on the beanbag Dante had left her on and she looked to Dante with an oops look before laughing “I have a confession” she admitted with a coy smile “I’m far too lazy and sore too move...” she paused to giggle “and even if I could, I don’t think I could walk” she added.

Dante laughed “oh right, I forgot, you walked half way across mars today” she replied before getting up shakily “you know, I have the perfect thing, it’s great for over wirkedmuscles” she assured before walking to the bedroom and almost tripping on her sleeping bag with a giggle “oops...”. She returned after a moment of shuffling about and she dropped down heavily holding a worn tin “this stuff is great, you just rub a bit where your sore and it soothes you” she explained.

Elsie eyed her stiff legs before looking back to Dante “only problem is my pants than... I can’t be bothered to take them off” she giggled.

Dante set the tin down and put her hands on her hips with a grin “I could help with that, hell o could give you a massage if you wanted” she offered playfully.

The idea immediatly made elsie blush and giggle “oh... I uh...-“. she couldn’t find words beyond that.

“I don’t hear a no...” Dante teased.

“Uh... um... I mean.. you don’t...” she flinched as she went redder and shifted feeling rather warm “I don’t mind...” she finally replied weakly looking embarrassed “that would be nice...”.

Dante nodded and picked up the tin to throw it to the bedroom and headed to close her tent door properly before returning to elsie. despite her drunkenness, she leaned down to wrap her arms around elsie and lifted her up smoothly making elsie squeak woth surprise and giggle.

“Where are we off too?” Elsie asked with a giggle looking red.

“Bed” Dante replied with a cheeky smile as she carried elsie and set her down on her camp bed a little roughly “your not moving once I’m finished with you” she assured with confidence, retrieving the tin “do I have your permission to undress you so I can massage you? Nothing more, nothing less” she added with a smile “promised hands off of you say so”.

Elsie blushed worse befire clearing her throat to tru and word, it took a moment but she finally nodded “that’s fine” she replied weakly with an awkward giggle, she was incredibly shy.

Dante took a deep breath and sighed “traveler help me, I would fuck you stupid if I had permission” she murmured befire shaking her head “focusing!” She nodded, looking as if in a very drunken mission as she brought her hands to elsies hips to start pulling her pants down as gently as possible. The problem was that elsie was a full it sensitive and she gritted her teeth as the titans hands felt very nice and the slow and careful feel of the leather being pulled away slowly as not to hurt her only made it worse and she clutched the bed trying to be subtle, trying in vain to attempt to control her bodies reaction with a shy giggle.

Dante was clearly just as tempted as she swallowed hard, looking very happy to be finished with the pants, the problem was that elsie wore a very tight fitting bio suit underneath and it was very clear she had no bra or underwear on since it was very common for ghosts to forget that sort of thing. She still had to take off the bio suit as well so she took a second to take a breath “fuck me...” she muttered to herself, she was trying her best to behave.

When she felt she was ready, she reached up to elsies chest to pull down the front zipper to reveal her stark white grey body before slipping the shoulders off to reveal even more of elsie, she closed her eyes as her breasts were freed from the cloth in the little wiggle it took to slip the fabric off her shoulders and she had to pause “really should have done this when I wasn’t so drunk” she laughed weakly.

Elsie was almost red, breathing shallow and strained breaths as she herself continued to fight her body “I agree...” she replied breathlessly.

After a moment Dante continued and as she slipped the cloth down her arms, for a moment elsies chest was forced forward as she shifted allowing Dante to continued, as she started at the waist, a hungry whine finally escaped elsie and she covered her mouth with embarrassment “I’m sorry” she breathed.

Dante was as red as elsie at this point and she cleared her throat again “all good” she replied weakly “almost done” she muttered befire pausing as she noticed just how elsie felt, the cloth was wet as she pulled it away from her lower body and she ignored it with difficulty as she once again tried to free elsie from her clothes without hurting her more, taking a deep breath once the awoken was free and bare. As she looked up, she was momentarily struck but the young woman’s beauty.

Elsie was in her early twenties body wise and she was lovingly curvy but not too fluffy, a healthy sized body with nice plump assets and gorgeous almost porcelain looking skin against deep plum hair that curled luxuriously around her shoulders. Dante felt her mouth go dry and quickly focused on getting the tin and putting some muscle relaxant on her hands to shift and start massaging it gently into her aching legs.

At first elsie flinched but as Dante begun with her foot, she relaxed as the titan used her strength in the best way possible to massage her way up with gently but strong hands. A few relaxed sighs escaped her in particularly tender spots befire she tensed up and hit her lip trying to silence herself when Dante reached her thighs. Dante looked up to elsie with a sigh “I can’t relax you if your all tensed up” she spoke.

“Right...” elsie replied breathlessly befire reluctantly trying to relax and she somehow managed to allow Dante to finish that leg without a pleasures whimper escaping her. It was when she got to the same place on the other leg to the whimper finally escaped and she once more covered her mouth with embarrassment.

Dante paused, she was hyper aware of each breath elsie let out, the way she moved and squirmed in a vain attempt to keep her body in check. A risen first day was often easier and harder then most days, their body is new and filled with extra hormones and light making them particularly sensitive the first day, the second was when the high wears off leaving the young risen feeling awful and drained as their body balanced itself out. She knew elsie couldnt help it but it didn’t make it any easier on her as she was already only barely holding herself back.

Dante tilted her head to the side and took a deep breath as she considered her options befire finally looking to elsie and pressed her palms to her thighs and used her thumbs to tease her, sliding them up slowly. Elsie was overwhelmed let out a heavy breath, bringing a hand down to clutch the blankets as she looked away from Dante with a shaky whimper, her legs felt so much better after her massage but at what cost.

After a moment Dante slid her hands to elsies knees before lifting them to her side as she shifted to settle between her legs befire letting a hand slide back up to elsies stomach as she leaned over the young risen with a hungry look, elsie looked up to her with surprise and looked shy, her breath hitching as Dante cane face to face with her. “Can I fuck you?” Dante asked weakly “traveller help me I want to fuck you stupid but I won’t if you say no” she whispered hungry omg before swallowing hard.

Elsie froze like a deer In Headlights, forgetting to breathe in the moment but her body knew the answer and after a moment, she nodded “fuck me” she whimpered in reply.

At that, Dante pressed her hungry affections onto elsie, pulling her into a passionate kiss as all her built up tension was let go. Elsie didn’t fight, bringing her arms around her hungry, replying with matching hunger as she squeezed her thighs against Dante so she couldn’t escape.

Dante’s hand came up to cup elsies breast as she broke away breathlessly to start pressing hungry kisses up her neck before biting her ear making elsie whine. Elsie in response clutched Dante’s shirt and started pulling it over her and Dante straightened up to pull it off before throwing her bra aside equally as carelessly and she returned to the hungry attack, pressing her bare chest against elsies.

Dante could see the light pulsing under Elsie’s skin, responding to every kiss and touch, it was almost electric as she felt the light reach for her hands as she explored her beautiful and untouched body. Elsies breath would halt or she would whimper, whine and moan as Dante teased and played woth her breasts befire bringing a hand down to slide over her pussy, her fingers teasing the edge making elsie shudder with anticipation and let out the loudest whine yet.

“How bad do you want me?” Dante teased breathlessly, her voice hungry as she whispered into elsies ear.

“So bad... I want it...” elsie whimpered as Dante pressed against her.

“I’m not convinced...” she mused pulling away and leaning in closer, her breath hot against Elsie’s ear “beg for me baby..”.

Elsie looked almost scared that Dante would leave her like this “please, I need you, fuck me dante...” her hands clutched the titans shoulders tight “please”.

Dante moved to bring her lips to her neck once more to kiss and suck lightly as she pressed her fingers inside the desperate awoken and elsie gasped with a loud whine, dante slipped in with ease since she was so wet. Elsie moved into her hand hungrily as the titan begin to work her, searching her insides to find where made elsie moan and writhe underneath her but she pulled out before elsie could finish making her whimper.

“Woah, I’m not finished with you yet” she mused bringing her wet fingers to elsies lips, elsie however surprised her by opening her mouth to suck on her fingers, looking at the titan seductively before freeing her fingers, her tongue trailing up to her finger tips befire she licked her lips and smiled. Dante was frozen briefly at the show and let out a shaky breath “you are filthy aren’t you...” she whispered with a chuckle.

“Only to get what I want...” elsie replied breathlessly.

Dante grinned “than don’t let me keep you waiting...” she mused as she straightened up to slip her shorts down and off, standing on her knees as she reached over to pull a toy out of hiding. Elsie watched her hungrily as she pressed a two sided strap on inside herself with a pant and tied it on before settling. She shifted to hold elsies hips and get in position, pressing the toy against her with a sigh. “you want this?” She mused.

“God yes...” elsie breathed hungrily “please, fuck me” she whined, clutching the blankets underneath her in anticipation.

Dante shifted and pressed the tip against her before pushing with a shaky pant “fuck...”. With slow movements she pushed the toy further inside with each thrust until elsie had taken all of her with a moan and she shifted again only to get more comfortable, continuing to thrust in and out rythmically. Elsie arched her back as she pressed against each thrust woth a pleasured whine, turning to moans as Dante found the right place and with the built up tension elsie seized up before finally coming with a last thrust and Dante’s name escaped her lips with desperate pleasure befire she was left gasping for air as her body pulsed with light.

After a moment, she gazed up to Dante lovingly “you’re good” she breathed.

“I’m the best” Dante replied breathlessly as she pulled out slowly and elsie let out another moan as she shuddered. The toy dripped with the awoke she shining juices and as she went to take it off, elsie raised a hand to motion her closer.

“Let me clean that for you” she smiled cheekily “I might even return the favour” she mused.

Dante chuckled and got up to reposition, bringing the toy to elsie level as she position herself above her. As promised, elsie raised up to bring the toy into her mouth and took the toy in further with each swallow, exploring the toy with her tongue and mouth so Dante could watch and she twitched hungrily watching as elsie finally let the toy go, befire her hands moved to remove the toy and she pulled it from the titan slowly, teasing her as she pushed it back in playfully making Dante pant with pleasure before she finally took it out to seductively lick the other side of the toy to taste her juices, dropping a devastating coy smile as she placed her hands on Dante’s thighs and brought her lips to kiss her pussy using her tongue to explore her completely.

Dante let out whimper as she tensed up in anticipation, moaning when elsie finally pushed into her with her tongue to explore her insides, pulling out to suck and kiss her on the outside too between breaths. Wen she found her mark, Dante panted with a shiver “traveller help me elsie... its like you’ve done this before” she whimpered before moaning as she ran her hands teasingly up thighs to squeeze her ass before smacking it lightly.

It was barely minutes before Dante hung her head back as she came to elsies efforts with a loud moan, breathing hard. Elsie didn’t hesitate the enjoy the fruits of her Labor and as Dante looked down to her, elsie freed her tongue to once more lick her lips and give a devastating smile. “Fuck me... martians are something else...” Dante laughed breathlessly before shifting weakly to collapse beside her befire leaning over to bring elsie into a long kiss and elsie shifted to face her, embracing her eagerly to return the now more subdued affection with breathless and satisfied sighs before having a murmured and highly conversation as they lulled each other to sleep with each other’s comforting presence.


	4. Pain and Gain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dante begins training her new kinderguardian titan.

The next morning was slow to come around and at some point sparks had realised how the night ended with deep embarrassment and concern as it was a first for her. Nonet however kept her company assuring that Dante would look after elsie so that sparks didn’t have too, yet at least.

While The morning was late for the two women, Dante was awake first and she stirred with a yawn before realising she was curled up beside the bare awoken women she had promised to look after. The memories themselves were hazy so she had briefly forgotten them however they hit hard through the mist of a hang over induced headache. She however didn’t have the heart to move and wake elsie so just settled back into a nap.

It was about 10am when a combination of the Martian heat, cuddles and a deep uncomfortable illness finally stirred elsie and she woke with a similar hangover induced headache on top of it all, groaning uncomfortably. She also a moment to realise just where she was and who she was cuddled up with, adding deep shock and embarrassment to the many problems she had woken up with. Despite her best effort to try and get up without disturbing the napping titan, her head spun as she got up and threatened to make her throw up before being followed by a weakness that almost dropped her.

Last night her body had been vibrant and glowed, the beating of her heart showed in the way the light danced in her figure. she almost overflowed with light but today she was more grey as if her body was tired from the extra light of the day before and had instead fallen to the opposite end of the scale. Elsie found herself barely able to move or she would be sick which left her in the awkward position of being stuck beside Dante. She was fortunate though in one way as Dante woke to elsies uncomfortable movements and she yawned before immediatly noticing the change in elsie compared to the passionate memories of the night before.

Dante shifted to her side with an awkward cough to clear her throat, blushing a bit “uh... you don’t look well” she admitted “can I get you anything?” She asked.

Elsie looked away from her with embarrassment for a moment befire shaking her head slightly as not to upset herself even more so “no... I... I’m ok...” she murmured shyly “I.. I’m sorry” she trailed off woth an almost ashamed whisper, she didn’t really remember much at all but she didn’t need to be a warlock to know why they were in the position they were in.

Dante chuckled awkwardly “for what? I should be the one apologising” she replied befire looking a little concerned “you really don’t look well though... how about water? Or something?” She offered. She had expected some sickness but she had never seen an awoken look this sick before, but then again she’d never seen a newborn awoken this personally before either.

Elsie swallowed and bit her lip “water could be nice...” she finally admitted quietly.

Dante nodded and got up quickly, ignoring her own headache to retrieve some water from her supplies, not bothering to put clothes on since the tent was still shut up. On returning, she paused briefly to consider dressing before shaking her head and setting beside elsie. “Need a hand to get up?” Dante offered gently.

Elsie considered herself before nodding awkwardly and Dante didn’t hesitate to help her up gently, realising in the process just how sick elsie seemed to be so she shifted to set elsie up against her chest and supported her carefully. Elsie drank gratefully and despite her embarrassment, she found Dante’s support comforting.

Dante looked a little guilty “I uh... I’m sorry, had I known you’d get this sick... I would have been more gentle” she admitted awkwardly, “I’ve never really had much to do with sick awoken...”.

Elsie closed her eyes tiredly to stop the spinning and shook her head lightly “neither have I...” she murmured, joking weakly “you couldn’t have known...” she sighed.

Dante bit her lip “well... new lights usually get sick on their second and third days as their body adjusts... but even I didn’t have it this bad...”. The titan brought a hand up to move elsies hair out of her face gently, even her hair looked dull now. “Maybe it’s an awoken thing?” Dante offered with guilt.

Elsie shifted to look up to her “awoken? What is that anyway?” She asked.

Dante looked a little surprised “you don’t remember?” She asked before pausing. now she mentioned it, dante wasn’t sure if she herself had remembered what she was in the beginning and in this state, she wouldn’t be surprised if elsie couldn’t remember at all. “Uh, well, I don’t know much other than you guys look kinda cool” dante admitted, “but they say awoken were born in the time of the collapse and are humans that kinda happened on some weird dark and light space magic... so I guess your an alien? But also human...”. Dante looked a little helpless “I’ll ask nonet to look it up for me” she added.

Elsie smiled “that’s cool, I’ll take being an alien... sounds fun” she sighed before looking down with embarrassment “speaking of uh... fun... thank you for last night... and I’m sorry if this was my fault... not that I remember...” she admitted.

Dante blushed with a chuckle “well... it’s complicated, it kinda was... I think... but I don’t think you could help it, your light was doing some weird things last night” she admitted “I think it made you particularly sensitive...” she cleared her throat “and it was my fault I couldn’t resist you” she added awkwardly “I know it’s not a good excuse but I remember asking... you said yes but I mean... we were both pretty drunk so... I really shouldn’t have”.

Elsie looked at her with a deep blush, even with as sick as she looked compared to the glowing porcelain princess she was last night, she was still cute as hell and Dante swallowed hard. “Well if I said yes.. then I won’t hold it against you” elsie replied quietly, she couldn’t deny the butterflies and enjoyable warmth that she felt underneath the sickness. “Im pretty certain I had fun” elsie admitted looking down shyly.

Dante looked to the side for a moment before letting out a breath, she had felt a little nervous about upsetting the awoken but knowing she seemed ok with it helped. She did however bring a hand to elsies shoulder supportively “as long as you don’t regret it, then neither do I... because I have never wanted anyone more than I wanted you last night”. she cleared her throat befire continuing “you drove me more than crazy and maybe it’s cause it’s been a while but traveller help me you had me utterly wrapped up in you” she added.

Elsie could only remember flashes of feeling but all of them reminded her of just how much she had enjoyed the nights events. “I don’t regret it either” she finally replied before putting a hand on Dante’s and squeezing it gently. She couldn’t imagine waking up like this alone so she was just grateful to have company that genuinely seemed to want to look after her. She brought her gaze back to Dante and gave a smile “thank you for looking after me”.

Dante smiled with a chuckle “hey, that’s just a titans job...” she mused before giving a content sigh “but I’d look after you anytime” she assured before leaning down to press a gentle kiss to her forehead and shifted to wrap her arms around elsie protectively. “One day, you are going to be a monster, but until then, You’re more than welcome to stay with me and I promise I’ll behave” she added with an awkward sigh.

Elsie gave a cute shy but grateful smile, deeply appreciating the promise and relaxed in the Titans hold, the fact they were naked didn’t matter anymore. As promised, Dante did look after elsie for a day or so as her body seemingly rebalanced the light and dark and it wasn’t long before she returned to a healthy but weaker glow than the first day. Her body had settled on a light grey, almost white, still paper than any awoken Dante had ever seen but it seemed a little more natural.

It was about a week before Dante begin training her as she allowed some time for elsie and sparks to adjust to each other, getting to know who they would be paired up with for the rest of their lives whether it be a short or long time.

Dante had woken elsie up about 7am with a playful squeeze before nuzzling her neck, while they weren’t in a decided relationship, those first days had essentially removed all the barriers between them so elsie woke up with a sleepy chuckle before yawning. It was a pleasant waking and she turned to face Dante as she stretched, looking to her as she blinked away sleep with a blush. “Morning” Dante mused.

“Morning to you...” elsie replied with a mumble as she cuddled to the titan adorably.

Dante sighed “while your cute, you are going to hate me in a second” she teased as she put a hand under elsies chin to bring her into a kiss.

Elsie replied quite eagerly with a giggle “why’s that...” she murmured breathlessly, an edge of hunger on her voice.

“Because today is gonna suck, it’s time for training” Dante replied “if your good though, I’ll make it worth your time” she promised playfully, bringing a hand to slide up her side to cup a breast before teasing her nipple with her thumb.

Elsie let out an expectant breath looking flushed, she had mixed feelings. She was both excited and nervous to see what this training would be and the promise of a reward helped a little to convince herself that she might not die. “You can’t tease me like that...” she murmured, half whining.

Dante smiled “well it woke you up, so I’d say it worked for my purposes” she teased before letting her go and shifting to stand, she was dressed mildly in shorts and a singlet and offered her hands to help the similarly dressed elsie “so, first things first, shower, normally I’d be up earlier but I figured I’d be nice” Dante mused.

Elsie stood with a sigh and Dante’s help, straightening up with another yawn “how kind of you” she replied with a smile.

“Oh if only you knew” Dante teased as she headed for the makeshift bathroom. It was in a sheltered area behind the tent and surrounded by a tarp like wall. the bathroom was essentially a shower placed over a grid next to a basic toilet and sink. Since water was a bit harder to come by on mars, everything was designed to be recycled, purified of course before reuse but there was no room to complain when they had water to begin with.

To save water, Dante showered with elsie since they’d already got to know each other so well and they settled down to breakfast after. It was then that dante again taught or reminded elsie how to put her armour on since she was a bit foggy from her first day. It took a bit longer as she was a little clumsy with the belts and metal plates but with a careful inspection from Dante, she was passed on that particular lesson.

“So do I want to know what our plan of attack is today?” Elsie asked with a sigh as the two titans emerged from their tent, helmets in hands and ghosts in tow.

Dante gave a cheeky smile “I’m not sure you do but I’ll tell you anyway” she teased “today, we are jogging” she mused.

Elsie immediatly looked uncomfortable and looked to her armour which suddenly felt a bit heavier. “In this?” She questioned with concern.

Dante nodded “before I begin with anything else, your fitness is going to be the most important” she admitted “the stronger you are, the more dangerous you become but before you can get strong, you need to be fit” she explained “so we are starting easy, a week of jogs, once every day and two after that” she smiled.

Elsie paled “uh, your going to kill me...” elsie replied weakly “I can’t do that? There’s no way”.

Dante smiled and put an arm around her shoulders “of course you can do it my awoken beauty, and plus, if you do die, you won’t escape anyway” she teased.

“Wait... what?” Elsie asked “die? It was a joke, what do you mean if I die?!” She looked flustered and a little frightened.

Dante sighed “calm down, you won’t die, I won’t show you that for a bit” she assured “your fine” she promised as they reached the open hangar doors “now, here’s what we are gonna do, I’ll run woth you of course” she mused before motioning to the large hanger “let’s start with five laps and we are done for the day” she promised.

Elsie looked at the hanger with disbelief, it was huge, so big a decent sized settlement lived inside it and she was supposed to run around it five times. “I can’t...” she repeated weakly.

“Nonsense” Dante mused “you can walk if you get tired but you gotta do five laps” she smiled “let’s go” she motioned as she put her helmet on. “This will be a good test for your armour systems and get your ghost some practice in looking after your biosuit and body”.

Elsie was clearly nervous and not looking forward to this at all but put her helmet on and followed, already feeling tired in anticipation of the efffort awaiting her. “What does sparks have to do?” She asked.

Dante took off with a gentle jog and elsie made an effort to try and keep up “ghosts are wonderful things, they can look after you beyond any doctor or carer could, they specialise in your body and it’s inner workings, it’s their job and they too have to learn this stuff. While they naturally know how to do something’s, there’s other things like your body that they need to figure out. If they don’t, then they could have trouble reviving you or healing you, causing more damage unintentionally” she explained.

“Revive? Heal... what? I don’t understand” she replied between breaths, it wasn’t taking long to have trouble catching her breath.

“Hmm, maybe it’s a conversation for another day, but think of it this way. sparks has to learn how your body works so the best way to do that is something like this so they can see the range of things they need to account for in their data” she took a few breaths before continuing, slowing down to keep up with elsie “just take my word for it for now, they are equally as busy too” she smiled.

Elsie had mixed feelings about the confusing information she was receiving but put her head down to focus on the hard task ahead, surviving the jog. Since it was still relatively early, it wasn’t quite baking yet so the first lap despite taking almost half an hour was relatively easy between jogging and walking but she was already tired and with four laps ahead of her and Dante seemingly taking it rather easily, she truly thought she would die by the end of it.

It took almost three hours before elsie finally finished the ‘small’ exercise and Dante was pretty puffed but she could clearly keep going if she had too unlike elsie who was ready to collapse and thought if she did, she would actually die. Dante was proud though and carried her back to their tent so elsie could rest allowing sparks to get some practice woth taking off her armour and some careful experimentation to try her best in soothing the titans exhausted body.

Dante was ruthless, waking elsie up every day at 7 to have her jogging or walking her five laps. It felt like slow progress but after thinking it wasn’t going to get worse. She was proven wrong as Dante started waking her earlier in week two so she could run earlier in the day before going for a shorter run in the evening as well. While elsie wasn’t too fluffy, with the intensity of the workouts and the diet she shared with Dante, it was barely a few weeks before she begun to feel the difference, not to mention feel it as she started to tone up.

When elsie could finish her five laps with mostly jogging, Dante was incredibly proud and informed her that she was ready for her next level of training and that it would begin tommorow in place of her afternoon jog. Elsie was initially thankful at the thought of skipping out on a run until we the next day where dante dragged her out side to the evening air and grinned, a grin meant trouble.

“Right, so it’s time for combat” Dante announced as she punched her palm playfully.

Elsie immediately paled “what do you mean combat?!” She asked weakly.

“I mean that I am going to teach you how to defend yourself and fight anything hand to hand” Dante mused “today is defensive so you shouldn’t get hurt too bad as long as you’re a quick learner”.

Elsie swallowed hard “your kidding right?” She chuckled awkwardly.

“Nope, so tell you what, let’s start easy” she promised “I want you to try and kill me” she smiled “but only with your fists”.

Elsie shook her head “there is no way I can kill you, I don’t wanna kill anyone let alone you.., I can’t kill” she asserted.

“Of course you can, what are you worried about?” Dante asked.

“Death is permanent! I can’t kill you! I don’t even want to try” elsie argued with fear.

Dante let out a laugh “oh, right, look, let me show you something” she brought a hand to her hip to pull out a hand cannon and it to face herself, holding it to her head. “trust me” Dante sighed as she pulled the trigger, blood splattering from the other side of her head leaving Dante to stagger briefly before collapsing roughly, dead where she fell.

Elsie could only stand there in shock before tearing up. “Dante?! I don’t... “ she whimpered weakly as she finally made herself move to the titans side. She was dead and elsie turned her over, she didn’t really know anyone else nor what to do, Dante was her teacher in all things so the thought of going on without her was terrifying. “Why?...” she cried.

After a minute or so, elsie still sat there numbly in tears confused but became even more so when dante gasped to life, her wounds closing up as light seemed to cover them as if erasing them. “Dante?!” Elsie breathed before realising this was almost worse, she had not only seen her die but felt her heart frozen in her chest. “What?! How!” Elsie whimpered.

Dante sat up with a wet cough and put a hand on elsies shoulder “this is why risen are special” she explained gently “death means little to us because the purpose of the ghosts is to bring us back to life exactly like what just happened”.

Elsie wanted to argue that it was impossible but she had litterally just seen it happen. After a moment she realised what that meant for herself “does that mean I can?...” she whispered.

Dante nodded “you can die and come back too, the whole point of this risen thing is too fight the bad guys for the civilians who can’t come back if they die, you understand?”.

Elsie nodded slowly but felt the fear building up in her chest “but... I don’t want to die..” she replied with a whisper.

Dante looked gentle “it’s scary to start with but I promise it’s easier than it looks, but I won’t teach you death yet” she promised “however, I want you to understand when I say kill me, I mean it, I want you to try your best to end my life” she smiled “what’s the worst that can happen, I’ll just come back and there’s no hard feelings” she assured. “Titans learn through force” she chuckled.

Elsie swallowed hard “but what if I can’t?”.

Dante sighed “then I’m going to have to make you” she admitted “but let’s not make it come to that”. She shifted to get up energetically and picked elsie up, setting her on her feet “so let’s go” she motioned “I’m trying to kill you, show me what you got” she mused as she took a defensive stance and watched elsie expectantly. Elsie stepped back with scared hesitation, barely able to raise her fists.

Dante waited a moment before looking disappointed “last chance, or I’ll try and kill you instead” she promised, a serious edge to her voice sending a cold shiver down Elsie’s spine. At that she took a deep breath and driven by fear of Dante attacking her, she willed herself to move. She moved forward to pull back her fist to try an attack but Dante moved with surprising speed as she dodged Elsie’s sluggish fist. The young awoken was clearly surprised and put off but felt a little better knowing Dante could dodge so she tried again.

With each attempt, elsie seemed to relax a little and despite that, she could barely touch Dante as her defense was excellent. After a bit, Dante stopped her with a smooth grapple, grabbing her wrist to twist her arm behind her almost effortlessly. “Well done, not bad for a newbie, but now I’ll show you a few things” she mused befire letting the surprised elsie go.

The next part proceeded with Dante explaining how to defend herself with simple stances and actions. Despite the initial fear of combat, the titan was kind in her teaching, ensuring elsie understood and had the basics down before beginning to test her and she would practice with elsie every afternoon to improve her defence before even beginning to teach her how to attack.

Dante’s teaching seemed harsh at times, sudden and meant for pushing elsie to edge of her abilities but it appeared as there was a reason as it taught the young awoken focus. Dante had practically beat the word into her as after a few days, she would make elsie suffer for distractions and each block she failed would leave dark bruises all over her body, all of which elsie had to continue training with, there were very little days of rest offered. Once training was finished though, the contrast was stark as Dante would be playful and fun, happily answering any questions elsie had and teaching her things that were a lot less aggressive in nature like armour and weapon care among basic world knowledge. The rest of the time was spent working or getting cuddly with each other for the most part.

It was about a month before elsie faced Dante with a question “so uh, I never did decide what I wanted to be... do you think I’d be a good totan?” Elsie asked with a sigh. She had gotten quite used to the weight of her light titan plates and while it would take time to catch up to Dante, she had defiantly picked up the titans habits, even coming around to how comfy the armour could be although she wouldn’t have minded getting better quality armour either.

Dante looked up from prepping dinner “huh, well I might be biased, but I think you do” she admitted thoughtfully “truthfully... you don’t seem much of a hunter, you haven’t tried to escape yet and maybe your less of a researcher than a warlock” she chuckled “your certainly stubborn though, you think like a strategist once you understand what’s going on, I think totan suits you” she smiled before her gaze searched her form cheekily “in more than one way, the armour looks good”,

Elsie blushed slightly with a laugh “well I don’t have anyone else to tell me otherwise... so I’ll take your word for it even if you are biased” she sighed looking content “I’ve been thinking though, if I’m a titan... titans protect right? That’s their thing?” She looked to Dante.

Dante nodded “the good ones do” she mused “not all do, but I’d like think your a good one like me... actually doing the job we were meant for”. She gave elsie a look “I sense your thinking too much and I’m gonna end up alone again” she smiled gently.

Elsie looked away with a deeper blush, Dante had seen right through her. “I was just thinking... I’m not leaving” she assured befire pausing awkwardly “yet... I was just thinking... I know my training isn’t complete yet or anything... and it’s probably just cause I’m young and nieve but... I just wonder if I should go somewhere I can help more” she admitted.

Dante sighed looking a little sad, as if she wasn’t quite ready to see elsie go, an almost parental affection almost. “I won’t stop you, but I’d like to see that your able to protect yourself before you go anywhere....” she admitted. “there’s a reason I stay here... the earth is where the most of humanity stays, the people who left... they left the fighting and bloodshed caused by both civilians and risen... there’s a lot of bad risen around... but if you truly want to help... then earth is where you should go”. she bit her lip “I just don’t want you to go to earth and get killed by some other risen” she added. “I don’t want to see more friends fall to corruption” she nodded.

Elsie gave Dante an appreaciative gaze before getting up and walking over to pull Dante into a tight hug “thank you”.

Dante chuckled and moved to face her, bringing a hand to her cheek “all risen eventually leave to find their way, I did once, so I was expecting it, but there’s a few more things I wanna teach you before you go and find your way”.

Elsie looked thoughtful “and here I’d started to think you were almost finished beating me”!she teased.

Dante laughed lightly “don’t lie, you kind of enjoy it don’t you” she mused playfully before shaking her head “there’s still so much I could teach you but there’s also I lot that I could never teach you, that’s why I taught you defence first”. She smiled “I think tommorow I’m gonna take you out for a drive... it’s time to practice some field tactics” she mused before pulling elsie onto her lap with a chuckle to pull her into a loving kiss.

Elsie didn’t fight her and wrapped her arms around her until breaking away breathlessly looking flushed and smiled “a new lesson?” She asked.

“I should teach you how to shoot befire you go anywhere among other things” Dante replied and cuddled her with a sigh “there’s a few other things but we are gonna go camping” she mused “get ready for discomfort” she teased.

“I think I can manage it if your there keeping me in check” elsie smiled cheekily.

Dante smiled in return “believe it or not, I’m not the worst thing out here in these sands” she mused “now befire we go, I want you to maintain your armour” she ordered playfully.

Elsie immediatly sighed “uh... yeah... I guess I can do that but I checked it a few days ago, I’m sure it’s fine” she replied before getting up so dante could return to dinner, settling on the floor.

“I know it’s boring but you will regret not doing it, you will thank me one day” she assured with a chuckle.

Elsie nodded with a sigh “yeah yeah... I’m on it”.


End file.
